Passion's Way

I suppose that to even attempt to enjoy this 'made for TV' production, a knowledge of Edith Wharton's works and the novel way in which she thought, given the age in which she lived, would be a great advantage. Then, if that knowledge was a given, Passion's Way, or The Reef (her novel) might have worked well had it been a British production and not an American one. The cast is OK with the exception of Timothy Dalton who plays Charles Darrow and cannot decide whether to be an American or an Englishman as his accent drifts from one side of the Atlantic to the other. For the rest, the production is very much let down by careless attention to detail. It is often the case in American productions that approximations of geographical locations are deemed to suffice and, whilst that might fool an American audience, it will not cut the mustard with the inhabitants of Europe who know full well their Paris from their Prague. These shortcomings were evident from the first few moments of the film. The novel (and this movie) explores the harm that is done when an unwise action causes ripples to spread out from it like a stone dropped in the middle of a pond, creating chaos for those who are innocently caught up in its maelstrom. This production really fails to convey that which is a pity. It does no justice to Edith Wharton's writing at all.